


Rooted in Blood

by little_shinra



Category: Lamento -BEYOND THE VOID-
Genre: Family, Gen, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:55:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21689440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_shinra/pseuds/little_shinra
Summary: "A Kiran woman and a cursed child. An unlikely duo, Kagari would laugh."
Kudos: 5





	Rooted in Blood

**Author's Note:**

> It has been a _very_ long time since I wrote something new for Lamento. Even longer since I had thought the desire to write something focusing on Kagari and Asato. Hopefully I can do more in the future, if my creative mind lets me.
> 
> Entry for the「kazoku」anthology collab.

Kagari found Asato hiding in the rafters. She normally let him wander where he pleased, be it into the trees that surrounded the village or up the rafters of her home. His climbing she could tune out and keep working on her chores. It was the drops of blood that gathered on the floor and quiet tears that led her to scale up the beams and retrieve him. Kagari decided not to ask what happened. She had a fair idea who would do such damage to a child's back.

She kept the cool cloth against his back, over the fresh scratches he returned with. Asato had stopped sniffling and remained still as Kagari cleaned off the dirt and sweat from the wounds. He slowly laid his head on her lap and closed his eyes. Kagari could feel the light purr against her leg as she set the medicine in folded lengths of fabric and placed them over his back. His tail twitched at the contact before returning to its leisure sway.

She looked over the small boy in her arms. He no longer carried the talons, that ratty dark fur that covered his body during his beginning years. Kagari was appalled by the sight that moment he entered the world and Kaya asked her to hand the baby. That was all she had the energy to say. Kagari kept a protective watch over them, using herself as a shield from the village elders who came to destroy the newborn.

It was the roots of a bond that brought this child into the world, cursing him with the blood of their enemy. Kagari still wished some days she could've done more, convinced this boy's mother to turn herself away from the Maegi cat. Then she wouldn't be left on her own, losing her dear friend. Then the child wouldn't be left to the vicious mercy she knew too well in Kira. Kagari was glad that at least the child wasn't born female, though whether it would've made any difference was thankfully negligible. Who would want to breed with a cursed female and spread it further? The idea that the wretched males in Kira would consider it sent a slimy chill through Kagari’s spine.

She unrolled the gauze and wound it around Asato’s torso.

A Kiran woman and a cursed child. An unlikely duo, Kagari would laugh. Both alone in their own right, it was something that they shared. Aside from the roots they both grew from, the Kiran line, they were without peace from the world. Kagari would grow to being nothing more than a breeding ground to the males, the village itself. Asato would be the despicable stain on their lives, doomed to a monster’s fate. Till that day came, she’d be his guide. No one would be better than she.

Kagari tucked in the end of the gauze wrapping, bringing Asato up and turning him around to make sure the bandage will stay. Once Asato was out and about again tomorrow, she knew it would become undone. He went to a water barrel near the door, kneeling to search for something behind it. Once found, he cradled it to her side and opened his arms.

Asato had her a crown of yellow flowers. It was a first attempt, the stems broken in places and petals missing. The whole thing could fall apart if she wasn’t careful. Kagari lowered her head, accepting the gift. Asato adjusted the crown around her ears, realizing himself how frail and small it was. Kagari smiled and gave him a soft pinch on the cheek.

“Were you out there making me this?” she asked. He nodded. Kagari wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you. I love it.”

Asato’s tail swished happily.

Even if her kindness was limited, even if it wouldn’t last, Kagari was going to make what time they had worthy of memory. In the form that Asato could become, the roots he rose from would comfort him and give him something to hold as his fate consumed him. A kind memory to keep him from losing his childish heart that Kagari held in her arms as they worked on another crown of flowers together.


End file.
